Westtown's Lower School features some exciting collaborations between grade-level partners, colleagues who teach the same subject matter, and teachers who cooperate across disciplines. There are also teachers who collaborate cross-divisionally in a limited fashion. All of us express frustration at not being able to communicate more readily and more frequently due to lack of time to meet and plan together. The question arises, however, whether the true difficulty is not finding the time, but finding commontime in a common place. Many of the 21st century tools and practices to which our ADVIS PLP cohort has been exposed address this very problem by offering ways to share ideas and conversations asynchronously via Web 2.0 tools such as a Ning, Wiki, Google Doc, Moodle, etc.
This section of our PLP project focuses first on fostering communication in Lower School using Web 2.0 Tools, then on researching obstacles which stand in the way of using those tools effectively, and ultimately on concrete suggestions for moving forward.
Round 1:
Sharing information among colleagues in Lower School
The challenge:
Westtown's Lower School faculty consists of 28 teachers who collaborate extensively and yet still feel the frustration of not finding adequate time to share ideas.
The question:
How can we continue conversations about professional concerns and interests when opportunities to meet face to face are not enough?
A solution?
In a burst of enthusiasm about the conversations we were able to have on the ADVIS PLP Ning, I started a Ning for Westtown's Lower School. I invited all LS colleagues to join, with a brief explanation of how we might use it. Several colleagues joined right away and I began posting our weekly Faculty Meeting minutes, as well as an occasional discussion topic. Four months and a dozen posts later, I am still the only active member of the 12 who have joined. I plan to implement ideas suggested by fellow PLPers to bring more people on board and get them participating. Now I'm waiting to see the fate of Ning before investing more time in this particular tool.
Round 2:
Enhancing communication about students in Lower School
The problem: In Westtown's Lower School, faculty write narrative reports on every student three times a year.In advance of each report-writing period, we meet to discuss students so that all teachers at each grade level have a chance to share their perceptions. When the school had only 16 children at each grade level and a faculty of 14 full and part-time teachers, these discussions could easily happen over lunch. When the school expanded to two sections of 18+ in grades K-5 and a full-time faculty of 28 teachers, such F2F conversations were scheduled during faculty meeting time, but even those became unwieldy. Over the past 8 years we have experimented with several strategies for meeting in smaller groups of grade-level teachers and "special" teachers, none of them totally satisfactory. The meetings allow 30 minutes per grade level to discuss 30-38 students, and take up two weeks worth of faculty meeting time. Add a snow day like we had this week, and we need to find a way to share information about 235 students by the end of next week.
Teachers are currently asked to share their observations briefly in writing on forms that are then compiled by the principal in a Word document which is copied and distributed at each grade-level conversation, then shredded. Only students who are mentioned on those forms are eligible for discussion. The results of the discussion are recorded in a document that is kept in hard copy in the principal's office. The compiled information is not kept on a shared drive, in student files or distributed to participants in the conversations via e-mail or hard copy.
Lower School teachers understand that a collaborative approach is essential to our evaluation of each child. However, we differ in our preferred methods of sharing information and our comfort with sharing our perceptions in writing. We also have concerns about privacy, security, and liability for information shared online. For this project, we would like to explore different tools for sharing information about students. The question:
How can we exchange and share potentially sensitive information about our students in order to assist teachers in writing narrative reports that reflect our best understanding of each child? Can we find a way to share information online, thereby freeing us from the confines of the schedule?
A solution: When February snow days prevented us from meeting to discuss students at the end of the winter term, I proposed that we experiment with a Web 2.0 solution by sharing observations on a Wiki, which I set up here . However, colleagues voiced too many concerns about the security and confidentiality of information shared online and the wiki was never used. Because it was set up as a Private Wiki, it apparently had a limited free use period, which has now expired.
Round 3:
Researching concerns, finding solutions
Is it legal?
Is it secure?
Is it confidential?
I am now backing up several stages and will interview and survey colleagues about current and potential practices for sharing information about students, curriculum, professional development, and departmental, divisional and school-wide concerns. I hope to learn how colleagues here and at other schools deal with such concerns as:
A. If we share sensitive information in e-mail or online (via Ning, Moodle, Wiki, etc.), that information may be subpoenaed in case of legal action against the school.
1) Is this true? (check with school lawyers, communications director, other schools, anyone with direct experience)
2) What about information shared via F2F, recorded in meeting notes (typed in Word on the school network) and stored in a personal account on a shared drive and in hard copy in a file cabinet?
3) What sort of information can we safely share in writing? What does "safely" mean here? If it can be safely shared in writing, can it be safely shared in e-mail? Online? Is there a Web 2.0 tool that is better than others IN TERMS OF LEGAL ISSUES?
B. If we share sensitive information in e-mail or online (via Ning, Moodle, Wiki, etc.), that information may not be kept confidential.
1) Is this true? (check with school technology department, other schools, anyone with direct experience)
2) What about information shared via F2F, recorded in meeting notes (typed in Word on the school network) and stored in a personal account on a shared drive and in hard copy in a file cabinet?
3) What sort of confidential information can we convey in writing? What does "confidential" mean here? If it can be shared in writing and retain its confidentiality, can it be shared in e-mail and retain its confidentiality? Online? What are the risks? Is there a Web 2.0 tool that is better than others IN TERMS OF CONFIDENTIALITY ISSUES?
C. If we or our students share information in e-mail or online (via Ning, Moodle, Wiki, etc.), that information may not be secure.
1) Is this true? (check with school technology department, other schools, anyone with direct experience)
2) What about information shared via F2F, recorded in notes (either hand written or typed in Word on the school network), and stored in a personal account on a shared drive, and in hard copy in a file cabinet?
3) What sort of information can we safely share in writing? What does "safely" mean here? If it can be safely shared in writing, can it be safely shared in e-mail? Online? Is there a Web 2.0 tool that is better than others IN TERMS OF SECURITY ISSUES?
Research Web 2.0 tools:
E-Mail
Ning
Google Docs
Wiki
Voicethread?
Talk to:
Administrators: principals, HOS, AHOS, Sue Gold
Legal counsel
Tech dept
Survey teachers: what types of collaboration do we seek?
Other schools
back to Westtown
back to Anny Ewing
Breaking Down Communication Walls
Westtown's Lower School features some exciting collaborations between grade-level partners, colleagues who teach the same subject matter, and teachers who cooperate across disciplines. There are also teachers who collaborate cross-divisionally in a limited fashion. All of us express frustration at not being able to communicate more readily and more frequently due to lack of time to meet and plan together. The question arises, however, whether the true difficulty is not finding the time, but finding common time in a common place. Many of the 21st century tools and practices to which our ADVIS PLP cohort has been exposed address this very problem by offering ways to share ideas and conversations asynchronously via Web 2.0 tools such as a Ning, Wiki, Google Doc, Moodle, etc.
This section of our PLP project focuses first on fostering communication in Lower School using Web 2.0 Tools, then on researching obstacles which stand in the way of using those tools effectively, and ultimately on concrete suggestions for moving forward.
Round 1:
Sharing information among colleagues in Lower School
The challenge:
Westtown's Lower School faculty consists of 28 teachers who collaborate extensively and yet still feel the frustration of not finding adequate time to share ideas.
The question:
How can we continue conversations about professional concerns and interests when opportunities to meet face to face are not enough?
A solution?
In a burst of enthusiasm about the conversations we were able to have on the ADVIS PLP Ning, I started a Ning for Westtown's Lower School. I invited all LS colleagues to join, with a brief explanation of how we might use it. Several colleagues joined right away and I began posting our weekly Faculty Meeting minutes, as well as an occasional discussion topic.
Four months and a dozen posts later, I am still the only active member of the 12 who have joined. I plan to implement ideas suggested by fellow PLPers to bring more people on board and get them participating. Now I'm waiting to see the fate of Ning before investing more time in this particular tool.
Round 2:
Enhancing communication about students in Lower School
The problem:In Westtown's Lower School, faculty write narrative reports on every student three times a year. In advance of each report-writing period, we meet to discuss students so that all teachers at each grade level have a chance to share their perceptions. When the school had only 16 children at each grade level and a faculty of 14 full and part-time teachers, these discussions could easily happen over lunch. When the school expanded to two sections of 18+ in grades K-5 and a full-time faculty of 28 teachers, such F2F conversations were scheduled during faculty meeting time, but even those became unwieldy. Over the past 8 years we have experimented with several strategies for meeting in smaller groups of grade-level teachers and "special" teachers, none of them totally satisfactory. The meetings allow 30 minutes per grade level to discuss 30-38 students, and take up two weeks worth of faculty meeting time. Add a snow day like we had this week, and we need to find a way to share information about 235 students by the end of next week.
Teachers are currently asked to share their observations briefly in writing on forms that are then compiled by the principal in a Word document which is copied and distributed at each grade-level conversation, then shredded. Only students who are mentioned on those forms are eligible for discussion. The results of the discussion are recorded in a document that is kept in hard copy in the principal's office. The compiled information is not kept on a shared drive, in student files or distributed to participants in the conversations via e-mail or hard copy.
Lower School teachers understand that a collaborative approach is essential to our evaluation of each child. However, we differ in our preferred methods of sharing information and our comfort with sharing our perceptions in writing. We also have concerns about privacy, security, and liability for information shared online. For this project, we would like to explore different tools for sharing information about students.
The question:
How can we exchange and share potentially sensitive information about our students in order to assist teachers in writing narrative reports that reflect our best understanding of each child? Can we find a way to share information online, thereby freeing us from the confines of the schedule?
A solution:
When February snow days prevented us from meeting to discuss students at the end of the winter term, I proposed that we experiment with a Web 2.0 solution by sharing observations on a Wiki, which I set up here . However, colleagues voiced too many concerns about the security and confidentiality of information shared online and the wiki was never used. Because it was set up as a Private Wiki, it apparently had a limited free use period, which has now expired.
Round 3:
Researching concerns, finding solutions
Is it legal?
Is it secure?
Is it confidential?
I am now backing up several stages and will interview and survey colleagues about current and potential practices for sharing information about students, curriculum, professional development, and departmental, divisional and school-wide concerns. I hope to learn how colleagues here and at other schools deal with such concerns as:
A. If we share sensitive information in e-mail or online (via Ning, Moodle, Wiki, etc.), that information may be subpoenaed in case of legal action against the school.
1) Is this true? (check with school lawyers, communications director, other schools, anyone with direct experience)
2) What about information shared via F2F, recorded in meeting notes (typed in Word on the school network) and stored in a personal account on a shared drive and in hard copy in a file cabinet?
3) What sort of information can we safely share in writing? What does "safely" mean here? If it can be safely shared in writing, can it be safely shared in e-mail? Online? Is there a Web 2.0 tool that is better than others IN TERMS OF LEGAL ISSUES?
B. If we share sensitive information in e-mail or online (via Ning, Moodle, Wiki, etc.), that information may not be kept confidential.
1) Is this true? (check with school technology department, other schools, anyone with direct experience)
2) What about information shared via F2F, recorded in meeting notes (typed in Word on the school network) and stored in a personal account on a shared drive and in hard copy in a file cabinet?
3) What sort of confidential information can we convey in writing? What does "confidential" mean here? If it can be shared in writing and retain its confidentiality, can it be shared in e-mail and retain its confidentiality? Online? What are the risks? Is there a Web 2.0 tool that is better than others IN TERMS OF CONFIDENTIALITY ISSUES?
C. If we or our students share information in e-mail or online (via Ning, Moodle, Wiki, etc.), that information may not be secure.
1) Is this true? (check with school technology department, other schools, anyone with direct experience)
2) What about information shared via F2F, recorded in notes (either hand written or typed in Word on the school network), and stored in a personal account on a shared drive, and in hard copy in a file cabinet?
3) What sort of information can we safely share in writing? What does "safely" mean here? If it can be safely shared in writing, can it be safely shared in e-mail? Online? Is there a Web 2.0 tool that is better than others IN TERMS OF SECURITY ISSUES?
Research Web 2.0 tools:
E-Mail
Ning
Google Docs
Wiki
Voicethread?
Talk to:
Administrators: principals, HOS, AHOS, Sue Gold
Legal counsel
Tech dept
Survey teachers: what types of collaboration do we seek?
Other schools
Return to Westtown School Wiki